


No Shell

by vindictivewithvendettas



Series: Embraced By The Void [3]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, I named broken vessel Lorne, It means alone/forsaken, poor baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27195343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindictivewithvendettas/pseuds/vindictivewithvendettas
Summary: Lorne has finally gotten their shell back after years of the Infection using it. Ghost offers them a place to stay.Post Embrace the Void
Relationships: Broken Vessel/Myla if you squint
Series: Embraced By The Void [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985056
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	No Shell

Lorne missed their shell.

They had lost it to infected creatures, their claws and mandibles pulling and wrenching and rending them apart.

Their shell was left to the Infection, while their Shade fled the scene, never to return.

Until now. When the Infection had drained away and was replaced by Void, and the Shade Lord had awakened once more, reincarnated as one of their own.

Ghost was... odd. They had no memory of who they were, or where they came from. They had defeated the Infection in Lorne’s body as if it was a mere maggot... Lorne figured that they just wanted the Monarch Wings that lay beyond.

The Monarch Wings... Lorne’s beautiful Monarch Wings...

The wings were their pride and joy. None of their siblings had anything like them. They could fly or leap into the air a second time, sure, but their methods were nothing like the ethereal beauties that were the Monarch Wings.

And now Ghost had them—or, well, the Shade Lord had them. Same difference, really.

It didn’t stop Lorne from feeling bitter.

Lorne approached their shell, poking it with a tendril to see if anything was still in it. It didn’t move.

The Infection, it seemed, took decent care of their shell, apparently. Other than a few cracks—and a gaping hole in the top of their mask?!—it was in perfectly good condition.

Huffing in rage at the hole, Lorne slipped back into their shell, relieved that it still fit. They weren’t quite sure whether their Shade had grown in the years without it.

They rose to their feet, swaying a bit before managing to catch themselves. The light tapping of tiny feet echoed through the corridor, and Lorne turned to see Ghost (they insisted on keeping their name) waving at them in greeting.

“Does it fit?” Ghost chirped in Voidspeak, their native language.

“It does.” Lorne whistled back.

“Good. I was worried you would have to go even longer without it. I know you were excited to have it back,” their sibling-turned-god trilled.

Lorne brushed some dust off of their tattered cloak. They would have to get that fixed somehow.

“There’s a small town on the surface,” Ghost said. “I’ve been bringing people there. People who have been alone with nothing but Infected creatures for company. Would you like to go?”

“I don’t even know how to properly socialize!” Lorne exclaimed. How in the name of darkness would they survive?!

“Neither does Mask Maker. Or Shaman. Lemm sucks at it,” Ghost countered.

Lorne huffed. “Fine,” they said snappily. “But if it ends in disaster, it’s your fault.”

***

It didn’t end in disaster.

Lorne ended up being roommates with one of Ghost’s friends (or familial figures? Who knows...), Quirrel. Quirrel had given up on life, but Ghost had gripped their arm and stared up at him pleadingly until he relented and chose to live on. They got along well, and Quirrel’s friends were alright as well.

Lorne worked at the cartography shop, assisting Iselda with organizing maps and add-ons like markers. The massive hole in their head didn’t seem to bother anybody, so there were no problem and Lorne could pay their share of the rent without any hitches.

They made fast friends with Myla, who had also lost her body to the Infection. She knew what it was like to have nothing but your own mind for company, even as she played tug of war with a goddess for it.

Lorne didn’t have much in the way of possessions or friends, but their shell and Myla were enough for them.


End file.
